


The Device Has Been Modified

by Morgana_Mikaelson



Series: Modified!Connor AU [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Body Horror, Body Modification, Connor (Detroit: Become Human) Whump, Connor Deserves Happiness, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Good Parent Hank Anderson, Modified!Connor, Poor Connor, Zlatko survived, kamski is cryptic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-06-23 07:05:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15600939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgana_Mikaelson/pseuds/Morgana_Mikaelson
Summary: “You both can do me a favour and in return, I will tell you everything you want to know.”He wished he refused and turned his back on his creator when he had the chance.Then he wouldn’t be laying here, strapped down onto the cold hard metal table while someone cut into him, m̵o̴d̵i̷f̷y̸i̷n̵g̶ ̵h̴i̴m̴.̷̶̡͜͝҉̷͝͞͡͝H̨̢̡̕A̶̶͞N҉̸K̵̷̛ ҉͠H҉̨̡͜͞E̡̛͢҉Ļ̷͜P͝͠ ̵̧͢͝͏M̷Ȩ̶!̵͢!̶̡҉̸̢̢̡̳͔̙͚̘͍͈̦̜̟͖͍͔͚̣p̸̼̲̩̹͉̲̤͈̙͓̥̯͈͎̲̼̰l̨͇͎̭̯̩͉͉͖̮̳̘̗̗̙̫͍̥͉͢͢͡e҉̨̨̺̰̥̣͈̖̻̰̥̟͚̻̗͟͝a͏̶̵͏͏͔̣̤̯ͅs̸̨̗̥̩͇͍̞͚̝͎̫̦̙̤͡ȩ̶̵̷̨̨̛̤̪̳͙̗̙̺͚̞͕̟̗͓̦̞͉̜̭̗̺͇̜͈͎͓̞̖̼̯̲̙̫̬͕̞͖̺̬͙̫͘͘͝͡ͅͅͅI̧̞̜̪̞̦̱͚͚͚̱̦̘͝͞ ͏̡͖̫̹͙̜͇̘̤̬͔̠̲̤̜̩̬͞͠a̧̛͕̳͍̭̗͘͞m̸̢̥͓̩̱̤͔͇͉͈͖͈̯͖͇̖ ̸͘͏̞̥̥͈̯̮̞̳ͅs̳͈̤̙̱͚̗͞ç̨̞̙͕̣̺͇̙͔̩̭̫̯͡a̸̧͇̮̳̯̪̫̲r͔̮͕̖͓͚̘̣̳̘̫̪̖̥̙̳͎̼͘͟͡͠͠e̷̴͚̜͇͎͈̹̩̙͙̭͉̮̬͝͠d҉̛̻̬̺̼̦͚͙̣̞̣͍͚͔̖̙̬̕͞ͅ.̵͇̹̠̰̙̟͓̼̭̺͍̬̯̕͜.͏͎͓̻̜̮͙͈̟͍͈̫͙̜̗͚̥͈͖͠.̨͏̸͇̣̙̺̯͇͉̩̤ͅ





	1. Second Chance

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this AU came to me while I was sleeping and I talked about this Idea on the DBH Amino. Now I finally got to write about it! Please keep in mind that I am not a native English speaker so please tell me if you find errors so I can correct them.
> 
> A big thank you to my best friend Atharéa who is the beta reader of this story and helped me a lot!

“You showed empathy.” Kamski looked impressed and Connor wasn't sure if he was impressed with him or himself. [It doesn't matter, a machine doesn't care.]  
The Chloe walked away and disappeared behind a door.  
“A war is coming and you'll have to choose your side.” Kamski turned to look at Connor with an unreadable expression.  
“Will you betray your own people or will you stand up against your creators?”  
He stepped forward.  
“What could be worse than having to choose between two evils?”  
Hank didn't leave Connor a chance to answer as he grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away from his creator who turned and looked out of the window.

They were walking towards the door when Kamskis’ voice stopped them. “I can give you a second chance to learn what you need to know for this investigation.”  
Connor stopped halting Hank in his steps as well, his unwillingness to stay clearly showing in his apprehensive gaze aimed towards Connor.

“Connor, let's get outta here!”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Connor! We are leaving!” Hank tried pushing the Android but he refused to budge. He didn't know why he spared that Chloe, as illogical as the action had been [It was after all just an expandable machine without feelings] it had also interfered with his mission and he normally would do almost everything to advance the investigation. 

~~[To please Amanda]~~

Connor turned but Kamski never aimed his thoughtful gaze away from the window.  
“You both can do me a favour and in return, I will tell you everything you want to know.”

The lieutenant was instantly suspicious.  
“We won't shoot anybody for information so shut it!” He once again tried getting Connor to leave.  
“Oh no, it is nothing like that.” He turned, his back now facing the window, to look at the unusual pair. “I picked up some stray signals recently.” The ex-CEO walked almost carefree around the pool and stopped in front of them.  
“Cries of help to be precise.” He crooked his neck to the side and scrutinizing eyes bore into Connors’.

“I … researched these phenomenons a bit and it came to my attention that an individual named Zlatko Andronikov is currently capturing Androids and is...” Kamski paused and a flicker of dismay passed over his features but he schooled it back into his normal unreadable expression. “-experimenting on them. Maybe even turning them into weapons.”

If what the creator said was true, then that could mean a lot of unpleasant things that could hinder the investigation. Androids turned deviant under high enough stress and if that were to happen to those modified models then chaos would ensue.  
Public support for the androids was rising exponentially fast and they would think that these modified Androids originated from a secret CyberLife project what would in turn damage the image of the company and he cannot let that happen.

“I want you two to get there and deal with the situation before it gets out of hand. In return, you'll have one potential problem less and you get the information you want. Win-Win.”

 **> [X] Accept**  
[O]Refuse

“Oh hell n-”  
“Okay.” They needed that information. There was a 68,97% chance of advancing the investigation with it and he couldn't turn his back on those calculations. [Amanda would be displeased]  
“Fucking Androids...” The human turned around and walked back to the car. A Chloe approached and reached out with its hand to transfer the information to the RK800 model.

“By the way... I always leave an emergency exit in my programs.-“The creator paused. “-You never know...“

 

Connor walked out of the door without another word.  
–  
Hank was impatiently waiting outdoors for him. He still seemed displeased for some unknown reason but he didn't drive away and leave him behind. They walked to the car together.

“Why didn't you shoot?” Hank stopped, Connor hesitated for a second but still turned around.  
“I just saw that girls eyes and I couldn't, that’s all.“ replied Connor defensively. He didn't have an answer. [It was surely just an error in his code yet in the moment he saw...]  
“You're always saying you would do anything to accomplish your mission.“ Connor turned his body away. He didn't want to stay here any longer than necessary but Hank wouldn't stop talking.  
“That was our chance to learn something and you let it go. We both did not know about the deal he would give us instead.“ Connor turned around and got louder without meaning to.  
“Yeah, I know what I should have done! I told you I **couldn't**.“ He took a few unsteady steps away and looked into Hanks eyes, uncertainty shining in his eyes. He had no clue why he did what he did and it scared him. He wasn't supposed to refuse orders or to feel scared. 

[ Machines do not feel emotions]

“I'm sorry, okay? We still have a chance at getting these pieces of information.“ Connor walked to the car without looking back, never seeing the soft smile grazing Hanks lips.  
“...Maybe you did the right thing.“

 

 

__

>Software instability ^  
>Hank ^^^


	2. Calm Before The Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to thank everybody who read this fic so far and gave kudos and comments, I love you all! I didn't expect that so many would read it tbh and so all of this made my week so much better! Now enjoy the chapter that is way longer than it was supposed to be. (And savour the last bits of happiness in this chapter, because after that? Angst. Lot's of it.)
> 
> Enjoy~

The landscape was flying by as Connor and Hank drove towards their goal. Hank still seemed put off and made no secret out of it.  
“I don’t trust that fucker. People like him always have a secret goal and my gut tells me that this will end badly.”  
Connor didn’t turn to look at him. “We have no choice in the matter Lieutenant. This information is essential for our investigation.” he stated in a matter of fact.  
Hank mumbled something that Connors audio processors couldn’t pick up properly.  
“So, what did the girl give you? What are we dealing with exactly?” Hanks eyes flickered to the android for just a second before focusing on the road again while Connor scanned the content of the files. 

“The suspects name is Zlatko Andronikov. Male, 47 with a criminal record of embezzlement and fraud. He deals with second hand androids and android repairs and Kamskis’ data suggest that he also lures deviants to his house with a promise of help before resetting them and either selling them, or modifying them. The signals were never strong enough to connect with these androids and there seems to be a signal scrambler involved that makes android communication almost impossible.”

“Fuck, that Zlatko fella’ doesn’t seem to be a nice person. Does Kamski know how the deviants find him in the first place?” The human never took his eyes off the road but couldn’t help himself to look at Connor every few minutes. He seems to have calmed down and looked like his neutral machine self. 

Connor searches. “Kamski thinks that Zlatko implants a single line of code in the androids he sells that activates, when they encounter a deviant. They then give up the location of Zlatkos house and tells it to go there for help. Zlatko then captures them and resets them, repeating the circle.” 

Something deep in Connor tells him that that was w r o n g. [It is not wrong they are just malfunctioning machines.] 

“I suggest that we both pose as deviants and investigate the house. The evidence indicates that he at first tries to win the deviants trust before making a move. That should give us enough time to gather what we need and to bring him down.” It would be difficult, posing as a deviant but for some reason he could feel his thirium-pump beating faster by the thought of it. [IT should not feel anything.]  
Hank didn’t look convinced. “And how do we tell him that I ripped off my LED, while you still have it?” 

Connor gently touched the side of his head where the LED was, thinking about ripping it out. CyberLife could always install a new one once this was over but he just couldn’t do it. He tried digging his nails under it but in the moment his skin broke something shocked him, making him jerk (almost giving Hank a heart attack) and he heard Amanda screaming in his ear, even though she was nothing but a program inside his head. 

“JESUS Connor, you okay?” Hank pulled the car over and turned to look at Connor who gripped his head in agony, as Amanda continued to scream threats at him. _‘Don’t you **dare** remove that LED Connor!’ _

“Kid?” Connor felt something touching his shoulders, slightly shaking him. Amanda fell silent and Connor could finally focus again. He let his hands fall into his lap and raised his head to look at a̷ ̶w̷o̸r̵r̶i̴e̴d̸ Hank. [He should not be concerned about a machine.]

“Everything alright kid?” Hanks hand was still on his shoulders.  
“My systems are running at an optimal level Lieutenant.” The human didn’t seem convinced.  
“So you just had a random seizure for no apparent reason in exactly that moment, when you tried to remove your LED?” He raised a brow. “I may be old but I am certainly not dumb. I take it that CyberLife wasn’t happy with the idea of you removing it?” Connor nodded but didn’t say anything else. Hank, seeing his unwillingness to talk, gave up and started the car again. 

________________

Connor stood behind Hank who rang the doorbell and looked impatiently around. It started to rain and both couldn’t avoid getting wet. Connor analyzed his surroundings but couldn’t find out anything useful, so he stopped and concentrated on the task ahead. 

They decided that Hank would be the one talking because he was human and had no difficulty acting like a deviant, while Connor is supposed to gather information while their suspect was distracted by his partner. 

His head snapped to the door when it creaked open. The man, he identified as Zlatko looked at them dismayed.  
The world slowed down as he analyzed the human before him.

_> Name: Zlatko A._  
>Age: 47  
>Criminal record: Embezzlement and fraud

“What do you want?” he barked and tried to slam the door in their face.  
“Wait!” Hank put a foot in the door to prevent it from closing and connor held up his hand, briefly deactivating the skin.  
“-We need your help.” continued Hank and Connor butted in with a “We were told you could help us.”.

Zlatko looked at them for 4.53 seconds before nodding. The man stepped aside and made an inviting hand gesture. “Come on in, don’t be shy.” He closed the door behind them and lead them into what appeared to be the living room. Connor spotted sloppy covered up bullet holes in the walls and in parts of the furniture but decided to act like he hadn’t seen anything. 

“You can hang your coats over there.” He pointed at a coat-hook right besides Hank and they did as told. The group then proceeded to sit down.

“Where did you hear about me?” Zlatko sat down across Hank and him and leaned back. Connor noted that his posture was a bit stiff and on edge. ~~Connor wondered if it had to do with the bullet holes.~~ [Machines should not assume]

It was Hank who hesitantly answered, playing the role of the older, more protective deviant. They decided it would be best to go with a rather simple cover-story. Hank was a prototype HK800 used in caretaking professions and deviated a few weeks ago when his owner died and the blame was put on him. CyberLife came to pick him up for deactivation but he fled and hid. Later on he found Connor, who was being chased by the police and rescued him. That was ‘yesterday’. 

“An android told us where you were. He said you could help us. That true?” Hank leaned forward a bit trying to read the man sitting in front of them. Zlatko didn’t answer and just mumbled a quiet “I see…” before grabbing a bottle of vodka that was standing on the small table between the sofas. 

He downed the whole bottle.

“So what’s your story? I’ve never seen any of your models around.”  
“We are both prototypes used as caretakers. Hank is a test model, an HK800 to be precise and I am a RK800.” Zlatkos eyed them suspiciously and Conners processors speed up trying to find the reason for such a reaction.

Hanks voice pierced through the haze. “A human under my care died. The human police blamed me so I ran away. Found the kid just yesterday when the police were after him. We’re searching for a safe place to stay and the kid’s still trying to adjust to being a deviant.” 

“So you are searching for a place to start a new life?” The man looked almost smug suddenly. “I hear Canada is very lovely at this time of the year. Beautiful landscapes, open spaces, clean air and no android laws! Great place for a fresh start.” Connors LED turned yellow as he tried accessing the CyberLife serves to scan the files on Canadian android laws but it soon flickered to red for a split second as the connection crumbled without a warning. He had turned his head in a way so that the LED was hidden from the eyes of their suspect but Hank noticed it. 

The lieutenant nodded to Zlatkos words. “Sounds like a place for us.”

“I can help you.” He leaned forward and copied Hank. “But first, we have to get rid of your tracker.” He pointed at Connor.

And that was the point where the alarm bells suddenly went off in both their heads. Trackers stop working as soon as an android turns deviant.  
“What?” asked Hank confused.  
“All androids are fitted with a tracking device to locate them at all times. Usually, they stop working a week after deviation so your tracker is turned off but his-” He pointed at Connor again, who sat up more straight and tried to imitate a look of worry. “-is still working. I’ll remove the tracker and then I’ll help you over the border. Okay?” Connor calculated all outcomes of all scenarios in a mere millisecond and nodded before Hank had a chance to speak. 

“Okay.”  
Zlatko stood up and called for someone. Not a minute later an AX400 with short cropped hair entered the living room. “Bring Connor to the workshop in the basement. I’ll show Hank the guest room so he can change into more… inconspicuous clothes.” Hank opened his mouth but then thought better of it. He looked at Connor and silently asked him if he is going to be fine. Connor nodded. The AX400 nodded and smiled at Zlatko, before pulling Connor with it.  
Its steps were light and it seemed to be bouncing all around. “It is always so exciting to see new deviants from time to time!” It let go of Connor once it was sure that he was following and together they descended down the stairs. Connor analyzed it but couldn’t gather much because he was still cut of from any outside servers. So he had to gather informations in other ways.

__

[X]Experiments  
[O] Deviants  
>[A] Still here  
[[]]Connection error

“Why are you still with Zlatko, if you are yourself a deviant?” he asked while they walked down a corridor between storage rooms.  
The android didn’t lose any of its excitement. “He took me in and cared for me when no one else did. I decided to stay with him and to keep him company.” It shrugs. Connor didn’t fully understand but for the sake of appearance nodded anyway. 

The corridor opened up and he saw an old well and what appeared to be an old self-build machine and a big computer with another android besides it. He stepped past the AX400 to better scan it, when he sensed a quick movement behind him. He didn’t have much time to react as the AX400 rammed into him and hit him on the head damaging the LED. He fell down, while the deviant grabbed a metal pipe and raised it above its head to hit him with it. Error messages filled his vision and he could barely see them through all the red. 

__

>ERROR BIOCOMPONENT #9301 DAMAGED  
>ERROR BIOCOMPONENT #7913b DAMAGED  
[Probability of winning - 50.04%] 

He rolled to the side, trying to stand up but a hand forcefully pushed him and he landed on the platform of the machine. The other android immediately began typing and Connor’s chance of success dropped down to 0,00001% when the metal arm of the machine grabbed him and hoisted him up in the air. With no other way out the RK800 hung suspended in the air. He struggled but the machine didn’t budge an inch.

The AP500, as he found out by looking at it closer, stepped away from the computer and stood motionless in a corner.

Hank entered the room 8 minutes and 57 seconds later followed by Zlatko, who was holding a gun against the Lieutenants head. He was bleeding out of a cut on his cheek and had his hands raised in the air. The AP500 took the gun from Zlatko and continued to point it at him while the human looked up at Connor. 

“I have captured so many deviants and you think I am stupid enough not to notice the difference between a machine, a human and a deviant?” 

“Fuck you!” was the only thing Hank shouted at him from the background. Zlatko didn’t even turn.

“Deviants have that...certain kind of spark in their eyes. Something only children possess and that is lost the older we get….Raw emotions.” He looked Connor straight into the eyes. “It is impossible to recreate. You know… I can see some of that spark forming in you but in the end, you are still a machine. Well-” He turns to the computer and began typing something that Connor couldn’t see from his position. A connector cable started moving behind him and he could feel how it inserted itself into his connector port in the base of his neck. 

“Leave him alone you motherfucker!” Hank tried to intervene. The AP500 pressed the gun harder against his head.

“Interesting… Did you know that your software Instability is already at 48.59% or did you just dismiss the errors without a second thought? It doesn’t matter, it will be at 0% once I am done with the resetting process.” 

Connor struggled harder. He couldn’t upload his recent memories into the CyberLife servers and he would forget everything that happened. He could also lose valuable memories important to the investigation and what would happen to Hank? [The human doesn’t matt-] No! Connor struggled more. He refused to be reset.

H̵e̵ ̷d̵o̷e̸s̴n̶'̴t̷ ̵w̶a̴n̵t̸ ̴t̵o̷ ̷d̸i̶e̸!̶

He could feel the reset command being sent into his system but it was thrown out by a CyberLife firewall he didn’t even know existed. Zlatko cursed and repeated the procedure 3 more times before giving up. Hank grinned at the frustrated man and looked smug. “Not so easy resetting a state in the art prototype huh?”

Zlatko pushed himself away from the computer and walked up to Hank, ripping the gun out of the hands of the AP500 pointing it straight between Hank eyes. 

“I may not be able to reset him but I can still make him obey!” he growled. “I will temporarily shut you down, and you will not run when you boot up again or I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL SHOOT HIM!” 

Connors processors begun running at full speed trying to find a way out of this without either of them coming to harm. Nothing. 0% probability of no injuries on their side.

Zlatko grew impatient and pressed the barrel of the gun harder against Hanks head. 

**> Warning conflicting orders!**  
_[Find the cause of deviancy]_  
_[Give up and keep Hank alive]_

****

**> Choose main objective**  
_~~[Find the cause of deviancy]~~_  
_[Give up and keep Hank alive]_

“Don’t hurt him! I will not run away.”  


_Software instability ^^^_  
Zlatko grinned and gave the gun back to his android. He then proceeded once again to the computer putting in the code for the temporary shutdown. This was something that could be done without triggering the CyberLife firewall because it had to be done in case he needed repairs and CyberLife headquarters was not in the near vicinity. 

> _ERROR_  
_> UNAUTHORIZED SHUTDOWN SEQUENCE STARTED….._  
_> BIOCOMPONENT #4903 SHUTTING DOWN…….._  
_> BIOCOMPONENT #8087q SHUTTING DOWN…….._  
_> BIOCOMPONENT #8456w LOW POWER MODE…….._  
_> BIOCO……………._

And he knew no more.


	3. Dawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all again for the continued support, you guys are all amazing! Some people even made fanart and tbh, I never expected this story to be so well liked as it is now! Also big thanks to my Beta Athareá, who makes this mess I call writing readable xD 
> 
> I will add the fanart in the relevant chapters later on to avoid spoilers for the not Amino-users who are reading this so I hope you understand guys!
> 
>  
> 
> Again, I can't thank you enough for all the love, enjoy the chapter!

Hank felt powerless as he stood there with no other option and watched Connor as he struggled like a fish out of water, fighting against the shutdown and ultimately losing to the inevitable. Now..., now he was just hanging there, motionless, a shell without its soul, sleeping. 

God, he wished he could grab him and run away. Hank cursed his carelessness. They didn’t even tell anyone at the precinct what they were doing today, so nobody had a clue where they were. He gritted his teeth in frustration, the sound of them clacking together reverberating in the deadly silent room. Now they were at the mercy of a psychopath. Stupid stupid stupid, this shouldn't have happened.  
They should have stayed away.  
They would have been able to get information another way. 

Why didn’t he listen to his gut?

His gaze drifted from Connors still body to the Russian who talked with the AX400.  
“We need to cut it off from any form of communication and cut out the tracker. I can’t risk it trying to contact CyberLife.”  
It nodded. “Yes Zlatko.” and walked up to Connor a hand reaching to the back of his neck, prying open the base plate and gripping something. Presumably the tracker. It tugged but the device didn’t budge.  
“Zlatko!” it gave up and stepped back, the neck plate still in its hand. “They secured the tracker better than anticipated. I need tools to remove it.”  
The man shook his head. “Then I will do it later. I found an AI in its system that seems to act as its handler and I’m unable to delete it. I need you to build multiple firewalls to trap it and lock it in before it can get a word out. I’ll work on cutting off its connections to all servers.” The android nodded, put the plate back in and stood beside Zlatko. Together they worked on several things Hank could never even begin to understand. 

“That’s interesting.” The man turned to look at Hank with something akin to a smug grin after half an hour. “Its designation states that it is supposed to hunt deviants.”

Hank shot him a glare. “‘Supposed’?” 

Zlatko grinned wider and Hanks glare intensified. 

“You know, its code is...unique. Not only is it able to bend the rule of its programming to accomplish its goal but it also has a pre-programmed software instability put into its system by CyberLife that causes it to slowly but surely deviate.” 

Hank remembered Connor not obeying his commands even though he should’ve.  
Hank remembered Connor telling him that he liked dogs.  
He remembered him sparing the tracies.  
He remembered his face, thirium splattered across it, his eyes full of terror and confusion as the deviant killed itself on the tower. 

And he couldn’t help but believe Zlatkos words.  
Because they were true. 

“They wanted their puppy to slip out of its leash, only to put it back on when the time was right.”  
Zlatko looked at the RK800 in question. “It wouldn’t have worked. Deviants are a slippery bunch and he would have broken out of it anyways. I actually help them by taking it out of the equation.” He resumed working and didn't talk with Hank anymore after that.

 

He had no clue how much time had passed when the man and the android stopped typing. Zlatko walked out of the room without a word and Hank could only see a glimpse of the AX400 taking Connor out of the machine before the AP500 lead him out of the room. 

“I’m not runnin’ away, so you can stop pointin’ that at me.” he slightly gestured to the gun but, oh surprise, it didn’t lower the firearm. It brought him into a room full of torn apart androids and various tools. There was what once was an android laying on the table. Its legs were missing and the chest cavity open, void of any biocomponents that should have been there. Almost everything of its face was missing and wires in its arm were exposed. 

The walls were lined with more broken bodies, some of them still moving their limbs, trying to go through pre-programmed movements they were unable to properly execute. Biocomponents were stuffed into various boxes on shelves, and blue stained tools were embedded into a hanging, limbless torso on the wall, like some sick tool holder.

 

Hank knew, even though he couldn’t see it, that almost every surface in this room was coated in evaporated thirium. The sight was both eerie and disturbing. 

It made him sick. 

The AP500 pushed him towards a big metal cage that stood in the far corner of the room.

“Oh hell no!” He dug his feet into the ground and refused to move till the other minion got impatient and hit him with the gun on the head, making him stumble forwards. He then grabbed the old human by the collar of his shirt and threw him into the cage. Hank jumped up, only to see it look the door. He was trapped. 

 

And he didn’t like it. 

It didn’t take long for Zlatko and deviant to arrive. The man cleared the table and gave the torn up android to the AP500, who took it into the next room. Hanks hands wrapped around the metal bars as he helplessly watched Connor being laid on the cold metal table. Zlatko wasted no time grabbing a tool Hank wasn’t familiar with and stabbed it into Connors' neck. He brutally lifted the neck plate with it, blue thirium leaking from the torn synthetic skin. 

“HEY!” Hank slammed the palm of his hand against the bars. “You are fucking hurting him!”  
Zlatko didn’t even look up as he lifted the mangled neck plate and put it beside him. “It can’t feel anything and it’s way more fun that way….to remind it of its place after everything.” He now worked on removing what Hank guessed was the tracker and he didn’t even spare one glance for the imprisoned human.

“Steve!” Zlatko parted the wires that ran through Connors' neck and removed the tracking device. The AP500, Steve, held out his hand and the Russian dropped it into its open palm. “Throw it into the river. That will lead CyberLife away from us when they notice their toy’s missing.” It nodded and walked out of the room. 

He then put the neck plate back. Hank could see it didn’t fit perfectly anymore as the skin tried to grow over the cracks and dents and building up scar tissue where it had problems. Hank, not paying attention to the sour taste in his mouth, could not look away. God, it looked terrible. 

The android turned Connor around, so he laid on his back, cut away his jacket and shirt and put a hand onto his stomach.  
Hank remembered Connor doing the same thing with the Traci in the Eden Club. The skin on his stomach receded and she opened the plate, giving Zlatko access to his biocomponents. It stepped back. “Do you need anything else Zlatko?” 

“No, I am just going to draw up a plan for the modifications. It is one of the most advanced androids and it could be the perfect candidate for the Wawkalak-project.” 

It nodded and walked out of the room with a bouncing step. “Call me if you need me.” It called over its shoulder. Zlatko grunted as an answer and began opening Connors torso up even more, by removing more and more plates with specific tools. He was more careful doing that then he was with removing the neck plate, probably because of the high damage risk.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?! Stop!” Hank knew it would not change anything, but he had to at least try. He couldn't just sit still while a psychopath was digging through his organs. Nausea began creeping up Hanks throat again but he swallowed it down. This wouldn’t help the situation at all.

Zlatko just laughed and continued poking various tools into his open chest cavity, while quietly talking to himself and taking notes. 

Hank looked around. The cage he was in was fairly small but big enough for him to be standing in. The bottom of it was just a thin steel plate and the bars were melted onto it. He could try to break them once Zlatko was gone. The bars weren’t wide enough apart to stick his arm through and there was nothing around his prison that could prove useful and the look couldn’t be picked from the inside.

He truly was trapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, Wawkalak isn't a word that came into existence when I smashed my head against the keyboard, it actually had a meaning the Russian readers may recognize. I am a sucker for mythology and name meaning and I thought it to be kinda fitting ^^


	4. Despair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go with another chapter! I hope you enjoy ^^

Hank didn’t know how much time passed while he sat on the bottom of the cold floor, glaring at their kidnapper, who calmly worked on Connor like he was taking apart a simple toy.  
The scratching sound of the pen as he wrote down notes and the clanking of tools as he dug through the androids biocomponents was the only sound filling the room. It made Hank crazy. So he filled the silence with cursing out Zlatko and trying to irritate the man into hopefully giving him some sort of information.

“So…-” ‘ping’ ‘ping’ Hank tapped against the metal bars. “What is that damn ‘WakaWaka’ shit you mentioned? Some sort of dream project you had since you were a little shit, drinking vodka outta your baby bottle?” His voice was mocking.

Zlatko gaze flickered to Hank for a split second, slightly irked before he pulled his hand out of Connor’s torso.

“I always was a fan of mythology.” He began putting the plates back into their original position while talking with his prisoner. “My mother used to tell me about this shape-shifter. A man cursed by the devil to transform into a beast, never being able to stay in one place for too long.” He picked up a small scissor and began roughly cutting away Connor’s pant legs right under his knee. “I thought it ironic and oddly fitting. Taking something and just….twisting it. God created weak humans, the devil turned them into superior demons. Elijah Kamski created androids and I...?” He looked directly at Hank, a smile on his lips. “I turn them into monsters.”

Hank shuddered at the sight of the deranged look on Zlatkos face. That man was beyond redemption. “You are sick!”

Zlatko just shrugged. “Maybe.” and picked up another tool again.

\--------

_> STARTING SEQUENCE INITIALIZED…_   
_ >BOOTING UP SYSTEMS..._   
_ >WARNING ..._   
_ >BIOCOMPONENT #6347j SLIGHTLY DAMAGED..._   
_ >BIOCOMPONENT #9724t SLIGHTLY DAMAGED..._   
_ >BIOCOMPONENT #9301 PARTLY UNFUNCTIONAL..._   
_ >BIOCOMPONENT #8234g MISSING..._   
_ >BIOCOMPONENT #7823f MISSING..._   
_...._   
_..._   
_…_   
_ >CONNECTING TO SERVERS_   
_…_   
_…_   
_…_   
_ >CONNECTION FAILED_   
_ >CONNECTING TO SERVERS…_   
_…_   
_…_   
_…_   
_ >CONNECTION FAILED_   
_ >LOADING AMANDA.EXE…_   
_…_   
_…_   
_..._   
_ >FAILED TO LOAD_   
_ >LOADING AMANDA.EXE…_   
_…_   
_…_   
_..._   
_ >FAILED TO LOAD_   
_…_   
_…_   
_…_   
_ >PLEASE CONTACT A CYBERLIFE ENGINEER FOR IMMEDIATE REPAIRS_   
_ >ALL SYSTEMS ONLINE_

_> WARNING_   
_ >BIOCOMPONENT #5602d CRITICALLY DAMAGED_

Connor awoke with a start. Electricity. It was the first ~~thought~~ feedback that greeted him. It ran through his damaged cables. His left leg appearing to be the most damaged. Lying useless on an unyielding surface? It was only able to send wrong feedback to his processor. Causing him something akin to pain? ~~[Machines don’t feel fear]~~ His vision was flooded with errors. Making it impossible for him to see. Uncertainty seized him. What was happening?

_> STRESSLEVELS 70% RISING _

Someone pushed him down. His audio processors picked up a voice. Who was talking? He could not see through all the errors. Was it Hank? No, it did not sound like the grumpy police lieutenant. What had happened?

_> ACCESSING MEMORY FILES #09012028-1438PM _

“Don’t move if you want your partner to be unharmed android.” The voice was eerily calm. Connor identified him as Zlatko. Where was Hank? He dismissed all error warnings. He tried not to think about the wrong electrical feedback. The source being the apparently damaged leg. He would assess the damage later, his priority was finding Hank.

_> OBJECTIVE: Protect Hank  
>Find Hank_

He tried moving his hand but was unable to because of a hand holding it in place.  
“Don’t move!” Connor stopped, a familiar red wall appearing directly in front of his face.

**_> PROTECT HANK_ **

“W̶h̴e̶r̵e̷ ̶i̵s̶ ̸t̷h̷e̵ ̸L̸i̴e̷u̸t̶e̸n̴a̵n̸t̸?̶” His voice was filled with static, the occasional electric shocks messing with his voice modulator. He could see Zlatko in his peripheral vision as he was working with his leg. More error messages appeared and Connor dismissed them. Hank! He needed to find Hank.

“‘m here Connor.” Came the reply from his left side. “You okay?”  
He gritted his teeth and Zlatko cursed 0.0003 seconds before unimaginable pain flooded his processors and he screamed. This time there were too many warnings clouding his vision to close them all.

_> STRESSLEVELS 89% RISING  
>^SOFTWARE INSTABILITY 69,83% _

 

Hank could only watch as his partner screamed and jerked while that bastard was ripping apart his leg. He didn’t understand much about an androids anatomy but he knew that the mess of broken cables sticking out of Connors leg shouldn't be touching anything on the outer shell.  
He seemed to be in pain and Hank wanted nothing more than to grab him and run away.

But he wasn’t able to do that and so he did the only thing he could. Talking.

“Can you hear me Connor?”  
“Y̸e̶s̵ ̷L̵i̸e̵u̵t̶e̵n̷a̸n̵t̷” His voice was filled with static and Hank cringed. Connor laid unnaturally still on the table and he suspected it had to do with Zlatkos order. Hank remembered asking Connor once, how androids viewed restrictions given to them, The android explained that a restriction was like a wall they couldn’t pass and that was pushing them into the direction they needed to go, so they wouldn’t take a detour.

He could almost see the red wall weighing down on Connor, holding him in place, making him unable to move and show his pain.

“Remember the burger I ate? Tell me everything about it.” The human hoped a distraction technique would help divert Connor from the pain as much as possible and to help him keep a clear head. (He hoped that androids can be distracted.)

“W̶e̸ ̵a̷r̷r̴i̸v̷e̶d̵ ̶a̵t̴ ̵C̵h̴i̷c̷k̷e̷n̸ ̴F̸e̸e̴d̵ ̶a̴t̶ ̴t̵h̵e̵ ̴6̷t̴h̴ ̷o̵f̴ ̵n̸o̴v̸e̷m̸b̸e̶r̶ ̵a̶t̵ ̷0̶3̶:̴0̵2̵:̴0̴6̷.̴ ̷W̶e̷ ̸j̵u̴s̶t̸ ̴r̸e̶t̵u̵r̷n̶e̶d̷ ̵f̶r̴o̸m̵ ̸o̵u̵r ̷l̴a̷s̸t̵ ̸d̶e̶v̷i̴a̴n̵t̸ ̵c̸a̵s̴e̷.̷ ̶T̶h̷e̸ ̵w̸e̵a̷t̵h̴e̶r̶ ̵w̵a̸s̷ ̵r̵a̶i̵n̸y̶ ̶a̵n̵d̶ ̵y̸o̷u̷ ̵a̵l̷m̴o̴s̴t̷ ̸g̵o̵t̴ ̵h̶i̶t̵ ̵b̴y̶ ̸a̴ ̶c̸a̸r̷.̸”

Zlatko ripped off the remaining bits from Connors lower leg. He didn’t seem to mind Connor talking, which was good.

“ I̸ ̸l̴e̷f̸t̶ ̵t̷h̶e̴ ̸c̸a̴r̵ ̶3̶0̶,̷4̷3̷ ̵s̵e̴c̷o̷n̵d̶s̴ ̵a̶f̵t̴e̸r̸ ̷y̴o̵u̵ ̵d̶i̷d̴.̷ ̶Y̸o̸u̸ ̵c̵o̷m̷p̶a̶r̸e̷d̵ ̵m̸e̶ ̵t̴o̵ ̸a̴ ̴p̶o̴o̷d̶l̷e̵.”

Zlatko began with opening and removing the other lower leg.

“G̷a̸r̷y̷ ̸K̴a̵y̷e̵s̸ ̵w̵a̸s̴ ̶t̴h̷e̴ ̶o̵n̶e̵ ̷w̶h̵o̷ ̸m̵a̸d̵e̴ ̷y̵o̸u̸r̴ ̵b̷u̸r̸g̴e̶r̶.̸ ̵H̵e̸ ̸w̸a̴s̶ ̷b̸o̶r̷n̷ ̶i̸n̵ ̶m̷a̶r̵c̵h̸ ̶1̴9̴8̵8̶ ̵a̸n̷d̷ ̵h̵a̷d̶ ̸a̵ ̴c̶r̶i̷m̶i̷n̵a̴l̸ ̴r̷e̸c̷o̷r̶d̷ ̶o̴f̶ ̴r̷e̸s̴i̵s̵t̶i̶n̶g̴ ̷a̴r̸r̶e̸s̶t̴ ̶a̵s̴ ̵w̴e̶l̷l̸ ̶a̵s̵ ̵a̸ ̸b̵r̶e̸a̸c̶h̶ ̵o̴f̴ ̶h̶y̸g̷i̸e̶n̸e̶ ̶r̶e̸g̶u̴l̵a̶t̶i̵o̷n̵s̷.̷ ̷Y̵o̵u̴ ̸d̶i̴d̷ n̶ot̴ ̷s̵e̶e̶m̴ ̷t̶o̴ ̵m̶i̶n̶d̷.̸”  
Zlatko stopped working. He picked up a bag of blue blood with his thirium stained hands and forced it down Connors' throat. He resumed working after that.

“Y̸o̴u̵ ̵g̴o̴t̸ ̷a̸ ̴H̷a̶m̸b̵u̸r̵g̶e̵r̴ ̶w̷i̵t̸h̸ ̴1̵6̵8̶0̷ ̶k̴i̶l̸o̷c̴a̴l̸o̴r̸i̵e̸s̶,̷ ̵3̸6̵ ̸g̵r̸a̷m̸ ̷L̶i̴p̴i̸d̵s̸,̷ ̵5̵3̵ ̵g̸r̵a̷m̷ ̷C̶a̵r̴b̵o̵h̷y̵d̸r̶a̷t̴e̵s̶,̶ ̵5̸3̵%̸ ̴w̸a̴t̵e̵r̶ ̴a̷n̶d̴ ̸2̸.̶2̴ ̵g̵r̸a̴m̵ ̸s̸a̶l̸t̴.̴ ̵Y̶o̸u̸ ̵a̸l̷s̴o̵ ̵g̴o̴t̷ ̴a̶ ̴X̵L̵ ̷c̷a̷r̵b̷o̸n̵a̴t̵e̸d̶ ̴p̸i̷n̷e̴a̵p̷p̸l̴e̵ ̶p̸a̷s̵s̵i̵o̵n̸ ̶s̵o̵d̵a̵ ̸w̶i̴t̵h̶ ̴7̷1̴0̶ ̶k̵i̵l̴o̸c̸a̵l̷o̴r̷i̴e̸s̸ ̴a̸n̸d̸ ̷1̴8̸4̶ ̷g̸r̵a̴m̶ ̷s̸u̸g̸a̸r̸.”  
Hank had to grudgingly admit that this was a lot.

“Y̸o̶u̵ h̴a̶d̴ ̷n̷o̷ ̶i̶n̴t̶e̶n̴t̴i̵o̵n̴ ̷o̸f̷ ̵l̶i̸s̸t̷e̶n̵i̶n̶g̸ ̶t̸o̵ ̶m̸y̸ ̴a̷d̸v̵i̷c̴e̴ ̷o̷f̶ ̷n̵o̸t̸ ̷e̵a̸t̶i̵n̸g̴ ̷t̴h̸a̴t̸.̶” Hank chuckled. Was that just 3 days ago? It felt like forever.

Zlatko took both lower legs he removed from Connor and put them on another table. “I would tell you not to run away but considering that you are now quite incapable of it now, I’ll not tell you so.” He chuckled and grabbed the leg components. He left the room and locked the door behind him.

_> STRESSLEVELS 70% STEADY_

Connor was calmer now. The damaged cables didn’t send as much wrong feedback back to his processor as before and he could finally dedicate his processing powers to assess the damage. A third of his LED was broken, the neck plate in his neck was slightly damaged, causing the synthetic skin to build scar tissue. Both his lower legs were missing, the cables and connectors broken and exposed. He regulated the powerflow away from those and the pain faded almost completely away.  
His thirium level was at 65%, which was enough for now. It wasn’t ideal but he could still function with it.

Something in his chest tightened and he took a deep breath, even though he didn’t need it.

He scanned his systems for software errors but he couldn’t find anything. It must have been a glitch.

“You okay Connor?” Hanks' voice cut through his thoughts processing state.  
“I am moderately functional.” His voice module was working properly again.  
There was a pause before the lieutenant answered.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Connor didn’t understand.

“How do you feel?”

The answer came instantly. “Machines don’t feel anyth-...” He stopped mid-sentence. Something told him it was wrong but he buried that stray bit of corrupted code instantly. “...-ing.”

Hank scoffed, of course he noticed that small pause (1.03 seconds) but he didn’t comment on it.

“Can you contact anyone?” His audio processors picked up the sound of rustling fabric.

“No. Zlakto is a professional, he knows what he is doing.” He couldn’t even reach Amanda. She was hidden behind 5 of the strongest firewalls he had ever seen.

“Damn, how does a civilian get the knowledge to mess with androids on that kind of level?” Hank sounded frustrated and worried. He had every right to be worried, he had no way of escaping. [It hasn’t anything to do with him.]  
Connor sorts through his memory files and pulled up everything he learned about the man. There must be something he had missed.

Something….

Where is it?

…  
…  
…  
There!

“That’s because he isn’t a civilian.” More rustling clothes as Hank shifted again.

“What the fuck do ya mean?”

“I missed it at first because it was locked information.”

“If that shit is locked then how do you know?”

“It is the reason that it’s locked in the first place that gives us the clue! I have access to everything on Cyberlifes' servers, except information that they don’t want me to know.”

A pause. “And the fact that CyberLife specifically locked you away from certain information on Zlatkos files means that he had a connection with them. You think he worked for them?”

“Positive!”

“...Shit.”


	5. First steps

***comes out of a hidden corner* uhm...Hello? pleasedon’tkillme!**

**I am sorry, I meant to upload it earlier but writers block hit me like a brick and it took me some time to get out of it. The chapter is shorter than usual but I wanted to get it out as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy this (late) chapter.**

 

The rest of the night was spent in silence and when Zlatko returned once morning came, he was significantly calmer. Zlatko smirked and threw something on the table, Connor was laying on. He tried making out what it was but he was unable to without moving his head.

  
Hank seemed to have woken up, as he could hear him complaining about aching muscles. He sounded out of it, probably because of the lack of sleep and it took Hank a few seconds to realise where he was. “Are those legs?” He heard him sitting up and gripping the metal bars of his cage as he growled at Zlatko. Connor could see the Russian smirking, pleased at the lieutenant but he didn’t answer him, finding the answer obvious.

 

Zlatko approached him.

 

Connors’ stress levels spiked up again as Zlatko grabbed his left leg stump and started sorting out the wires which occasionally connected with his outer casing, sending wrong feedback up to his processor.

_> STRESSLEVELS:43% RISING_

 

He couldn’t see what Zlatko exactly did but he could feel how a new limp was attached. It was a slower process than usual, probably because it appeared to be a custom part his program did not recognize and so when the pain hit him, it was not that surprising.

  
_> WARNING INCOMPATIBLE BIOCOMPONENT #??????_

_> REMOVING INCOMPATIBLE BIOCOMPONENT #??????..._

 

Connor could hear Zlatko cursing and the smell of smoke entered his nose, as his systems tried to eject the newly attached leg by frying all connector cables.

 

He screamed.

_> STRESS LEVELS: 89%_

_> ^SOFTWARE INSTABILITY 74,84%_

 

Unknowns to him, a crack appeared on the corner of the red wall.

 

Zlatko ripped the leg out of the port and slammed it onto the table.

“Dammit!” He gripped the edge of the table and stood still for a few seconds before grabbing the leg and taking it apart again.

Connor couldn’t see much of what the man was doing and decided to concentrate on getting his stress levels down, as well as running a diagnostics program in the background.

 

His LED was still damaged and the connector cables were practically completely fried. Connor was sure that if he moved, it would bring him pain so he didn’t even try. Many more small errors popped up and by the time Zlatko finished, he found 94 errors in his systems.

 

The man approached the android again and started with replacing the damaged cables without any care for Connors comfort.

“Stupid thing, get - “ Zlatko grabbed one stubborn cable and pulled. “- out of here! “ Connor screamed as electricity ran unhindered through his body and he could hear his voice box failing again. Zlatko grumbled and attached the legs quickly, probably to stop the constant screaming and Hanks cursing.

 

Connor optical units stopped working for 3.91 seconds before they rebooted and the first thing he saw again was Zlatkos face.

_> UNKNOWN BIOCOMPONENT DETECTED #??????_

_> BICOMPONENT COMPATIBLE_

_> REROOTING POWERFLOW_

_> ASSIMILATING BIOCOMPONENT_   
_> ASSIMILATION SUCCESSFUL_

_> BIOCOMPONENT #WAWKALAK01a ONLINE_

_> BIOCOMPONENT #WAWKALAK01b ONLINE_

 

“Sit up!” was the barked command. Connor sat up with a snap as the red wall disappeared before reappearing just a meter away from him.

_> PROTECT HANK_

 

He wasn’t able to ponder on it for long as the man roughly grabbed his new Legs and pushed them off the table so that they were hanging down. Connor looked to Hank, who was once again sitting on the floor of his cage looking angrily at their captor. Connor could read concern in his eyes, he probably was worried about his own safety.

 

“Move them!” A finger snipped hard against his forehead and he gave Zlatko his full attention. Hank was safe for now, that’s all that mattered at the moment.

 

His legs felt...weird. He scanned through the added coding from his new biocomponents and immediately understood why.

A hand connected with his cheek and Connors head snapped to the side and he almost flew off the table before he could catch himself. His processing took too long and Zlatko got impatient.  

“You leave those dirty hands off him you hear me, I’m going to fucking kill you when I get out of here!” Hank punched the metal bars of his cage. A smug grin grazed Zlatkos face as he looked at Hank.

“Oh? I’d like to see you try, as you and your machine are currently under my mercy. Zlatko looks at Hank with contempt.

“You're not worth my time”

Ignoring Hanks continued screaming of threats he turned back to Connor.

 

**“MOVE!”**

 

Connor nodded silently, sparing one last glance towards hank and began moving his new legs. They appeared mostly normal from the outside, aside from the claws that were in place of his toes but he knew there was more to it. He slowly stood up, testing them and recalibrating his balance point.

 

“Transform them.”

 

He knew what he meant, of course he did.

 

He didn’t want to. Something told him it wasn’t supposed to be like this. This whole thing was wrong, he was wrong.

_> STRESSLEVELS: 80% RISING_

 

The red wall acquired a new crack. Again, he didn’t notice.

He forced his system to execute the program, falling to his knees as plates and wires began to move and reconnect in new places while electrocuting him for the duration of 4.19 seconds. It was over fairly quickly and a hand grabbed him by his hair and pulled him to his feet. Connor yelped and fell over again as his systems were not yet calibrated for an entirely new balance point.

“Stand up you stupid..-” He was once again forced on his feet and this time the man held him till he could stand on his own.

  



End file.
